-Consumables. Purchase from the vendor across from the tailor at Earth Spacedock.

100 Large Hypo
60 Large Power Cell
60 Large Shield Charge

-Equipment.

Armor: any Maco/Omega/HonorGuard armor (Omega Reputation or pre-Season7 unlocks), if possible. If you cannot get STF armor, use mk11 Jem Hadar Armor from the 2800 missions, or mk11 or better Energy Dampening Armor from the Exchange. [Phys] and [HP] are the best modifiers.

Shields: any Maco/Omega/HonorGuard personal shield generator, if possible. If you cannot get STF shields, use mk11 Jem Hadar Personal Shield Generator or mk11 blue or better shields from the Exchange. [Cap] is the best modifier.

Weapons: a Pulsewave or Compressed Cryo Launcher. One or more of the following: a split beam rifle, a compression pistol, a high density beam rifle, a Federation Type 3 Phaser Rifle (quest reward from Night of the Comet). Maco/Omega/HonorGuard weapons if possible. Any Sniper Rifle. All weapons should be mk11 blue or better.

-Devices.
Ferengi Gambling Device (on the exchange, search under Reward Packs) and/or a Tribble of your choice (on the exchange, search under Ground Devices).
Shard of Possibilities (from the Boldly They Rode episode, only available for a limited time), if possible.
Ophidian Cane (from Night of the Comet, only available for a limited time) if possible.

Feel free to bring additional kits if you have them, but these will be our main focus.

------------

2: Shooter Mode vs RPG Mode

Shooter Mode (default key: B) is the preferred form of ground combat for many of STO's players. It is recognizable by the distinctive blue rectangular targeting reticule that appears in the middle of your screen and turns red when a target is in your sights. Unfortunately, it is catastrophically useless. There is not a single skilled ground PvPer who uses shooter mode. It decreases your potential situational awareness, makes it harder to control your kit, reduces your ability to accurately target enemies, and decreases your overall damage. RPG Mode is overwhelmingly superior, especially when augmented with good control settings and a few keybinds, which I will go over later.

If you already do not use Shooter Mode, good.

If you DO use Shooter Mode, then you should switch to using RPG mode immediately. Do some STFs or other ground missions using RPG mode before attending bootcamp to familiarize yourself with this way of fighting and unlearn your old habits.

------------

3: Keybinds and Settings

For now, I recommend using the following settings and keybinds. Once you are more familiar with pvp, you might decide that a different mix works better for you, but these work well.

Settings:
Configure settings by going to the following menu while on the ground, in RPG mode.
Esc->Options->Controls
Make the following setting changes:http://i48.tinypic.com/28wdnh5.png

Bring up your big map by pressing M. Resize it until it takes up about 1/10 of your screen and then stick it in an unused corner of your HUD (you may need to rearrange your HUD to make space for this, by pressing Esc->Configure HUD). This will give you access to a much bigger and more useful minimap, which will improve your situational awareness.

Keybinds:
Configure keybinds by going to the following menu while on the ground, in RPG mode.
Esc->Options->Keybinds
Make the following keybind:
Target Nearest Enemy: ~ or Q

------------

4: Dodge

Your character has a hidden stat that does not show up on his or her character sheet: Dodge Chance. Every time your character is hit by an attack, the attack has a chance to be Dodged. If an attack is Dodged, its damage is reduced by half. A successful Dodge also reduces the severity of certain procs, including Knockback. Dodge is the most effective single means of mitigating damage. If your Dodge modifier is not high, it does not matter what else you do. You will die.

The best way to increase your Dodge modifier is by Crouching and Sprinting.

Crouching (default: C) adds +50% dodge, and you can take all other actions except for movement while Crouching. The majority of your time in combat will be spent Crouched.

Sprinting (default: Shift) adds +75% dodge and increases your movement speed. However, you cannot take any other actions while Sprinting.

Rolling (default: double-tap movement key) adds +100% dodge, but only for a moment. It is better to rely on Sprint or Crouch for most purposes.

You should always be Crouching, Sprinting, or Rolling. Never jog. Never stand. The Sprint key plus movement cancels Crouch, and the Crouch key while sprinting causes you to roll into a crouch, so you should always Sprint from Crouch to Crouch. This will keep your Dodge modifier high, and that will keep you alive. You should practice this in ground missions and STFs if possible. You will notice a big difference.

-------------

5: Aim

Aim (default key: X) increases your gun damage by 33% and reduces your movement speed. But wait - you are not shooting while moving, anyway, because you are always either sprinting (where you can't shoot anyway) or crouching (where you can't move anyway). So, Aim is a free 33% damage boost. Whenever you are shooting, you should be aimed and crouched.

-------------

6: Consumables

Every consumable has a Primary effect and a Secondary effect.

The most important Consumable is your Hypo. Hypo heals you. You should use your Hypo when you are between 1/2 and 1/3 of your maximum hit points. Hypo also clears Stuns and Holds, such as those caused by Fuze Armor, Gravitic Inversion, and the Ophidian Cane. Use a Hypo to clear a hold if somebody is going to kill you if you can't get away.

Shield Charges heals your shield. Shields do not have armor resistance like your health does, so shield heals are worth less than health heals. Shield Charges also clear Exposes, which we will go over later. In general, you should only use Shield Charge if your Hypo is on cooldown. I sometimes run with no Shield Charges at all.

Power Cells increase your gun damage by 25% for 15 seconds. You can use this to help wear down an extremely tanky enemy, like an enemy Medic or Engineer, if you are not in danger of getting killed yourself for the 15 seconds it takes for your Hypo to come back from the shared cooldown. Power Cell also clears Weapon Malfunction, which is caused by an Engineer Debuff or a Polaron proc. Use Power Cell to clear Weapon Malfunction if you are safe from getting killed and want to keep doing damage, or if you have the ability to finish off an enemy in one or two shots, but will be dead before your weapon comes back online if you don't kill them right away.

-------------

7: Cookie Cutter Builds (Optional but Recommended).

If you have a respec token ready or wish to get one, the following builds will provide optimized power, survivability, and flexibility between different useful PVP kits. Variants are listed for characters that wish to retain the maximum possible amount of space xp. In general, if your character is intended for both space and ground, you should have 90000 or more xp in ground, and of course if you are speccing primarily for ground than 100000 in ground is a given.